


Five Failures, One Success

by DrummerDancer



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 17:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11445933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrummerDancer/pseuds/DrummerDancer
Summary: Five engagements that fail, and one that succeeds.





	Five Failures, One Success

There was something to be said about engagements in their close group of friends—that was, don’t do them.  
  
Don’t get engaged, for the track record of success in their niche was oh for five, zero percent, not a single success. Not one engagement made it down the altar, each with their own set of problems holding them back.  
  
The first attempt was Mai Kujaku and Katsuya Jounouchi. Not a year after the Battle City finals, Jounouchi popped the question at a dock overlooking Domino Bay. The size and sparkle was impressive, earning an immediate “yes” from his female companion. Mai Kujaku flaunted her ring finger at every occasion following the proposal, a bashful Jounouchi hooked to her hip as she rattled on and on about wedding plans to any stranger who would listen.  
  
Unfortunately, said wedding plans went down the toilet when one such stranger took a look at her hand and declared the stone to be a fake, prompting one Miss Kujaku to check up on her future husband’s finances…or lack thereof.  
  
The ring was right at once chucked at Jounouchi’s head, a speeding purple car the last he saw of Mai. Luckily, the ring was returnable—no damage occurred when it struck Jounouchi’s skull.  
  
The next pair to try walking down the aisle was Hiroto Honda and Shizuka Kawai. The former proposed at a fancy restaurant outside the hospital where they first met, the later accepting as her eyes shined, not a blind spot in sight. The emerald stone set in the engagement ring was the perfect accessory on Shizuka’s hand as the two of them walked, fingers entwined, all over town, spreading their happy news like wildfire.  
  
Regrettably, said news was not of the happy sort for one Ryuji Otogi, who promptly challenged Hiroto Honda to a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters with the winner taking Shizuka’s hand in marriage. Honda accepted and proceeded to lose, forcing him to end his engagement with Shizuka and concede defeat to Otogi. And, despite her reservations, Shizuka accepted Otogi’s marriage proposal, thus marking the third of five engagements.  
  
The war for Shizuka’s hand was not over yet; immediately after losing, Honda challenged Otogi to a game of Duel Monsters, with none other than Yugi’s alter ego Yami dueling in his place.  
  
Otogi promptly nominated Seto Kaiba for his spot, who refused the offer until he was told he was dueling Yami; Kaiba withdrew his refusal and accepted, promising to crush Yami despite losing to him at Battle City the prior year.  
  
“Prepare to kiss your Egyptian God Cards goodbye, Pharaoh!” Kaiba yelled, snapping his duel disk together as the white “4000” came to life on the screen.  
  
Yami smirked and activated his own disk. “I don’t think we’ll be parting anytime soon.”  
  
The duel commenced, with Honda, Otogi, and Shizuka watching on the sidelines as Kaiba and Yami duked it out, both indifferent to the brewing love triangle as they renewed their own legendary rivalry. And, being that it was Seto Kaiba, the duel aired all across Domino City, alerting a certain blonde of said duel.  
  
“What a load of crap,” said one Mai Kujaku as she switched lanes and headed for the Kaiba building.  
  
The duel finished in a draw three hours later, but the outcome was a mute point by then; Mai arrived midway through the duel and snatched Shizuka’s arm, promising to return her in a little bit only not to do so.  
  
Instead, a Kaiba Corp employee handed Otogi and Honda a handwritten note from Mai, which stated in most explicit terms that Shizuka was not a “trophy to be won in a card game”. And thus, the third engagement ended without success.  
  
The fourth engagement was an unexpected one; no one saw it coming. Not even Yugi, which was ironic since he was the one who proposed.  
  
“No no no, I did not propose, Yami! Rebecca dropped her grandmother’s ring on the ground and I knelt down to pick it up! We are not engaged!”  
  
Yami could only sigh helplessly as Yugi tried to convince him otherwise, but engagement news spread faster than a lit match dropped in gasoline across Domino; half the city knew by the end of the week, with strangers on the street congratulating the famous duelist on the happy news every chance they got. Rebecca Hopkins could only grin and wave and wink as she proudly showed off what was parading around as an engagement ring but what was really one she’d had for years, a sparkly red ruby laced in yellow gold. And Yugi’s voice gave out midway through the week, prohibiting him from denying the rumors for the next two days.  
  
Eventually, one Anzu Mazaki was informed.  
  
A raging Miss Mazaki knocked on the “Closed” door of Kame Game shop at approximately seven p.m. Saturday only to find one Yugi Mutou unable to tell her the rumors weren’t true. He wordlessly stuttered and shook his head while Anzu pointed and declared him a cuckold, and not a soul spoke up to defend Yugi’s honor, not even Seto Kaiba, who passed soundlessly through the same doors at 7:15 into the living quarters.  
  
It wasn’t until Monday morning that Yugi could squeak out a whisper. He ran to the first jewelry store in town he could find, hissed he needed a ring, and trekked to Anzu’s place with a hand firmly shoved in a pocket.  
  
It wasn’t the most romantic proposal. It was too early in the day and Anzu answered the door in gym shorts and a stained t-shirt. But Yugi crouched down on one knee, opened the ring box, and asked in the loudest hush he could muster for Anzu’s hand in marriage. And so, the fifth engagement commenced.  
  
This one had the best shot of making it down the aisle, as Anzu and Yugi did love each other very much. But the circumstances that led to the proposal ended up being their undoing. Day after day, Anzu was sneered at and tattled on as “the other woman”. For Miss Rebecca Hopkins was now crushed and crying on the shoulder of every gossiping old woman in the city, as she told a winding and fictional tale of the harpy who wrapped her legs around her Yugi and led him down the path of sin. Anzu was even denied service once at a coffee shop, where she stopped in to buy herself and Yugi a couple of to-go cups. The woman clucked her tongue and said, “No shirts, no shoes, no sluts,” and Anzu bolted, empty-handed.  
  
Yugi promised they’d go somewhere else, like America, where she wanted to work as a dancer, but time dragged on, and the snide remarks kept building, and eventually, Anzu snapped and booked a plane ticket for one and was gone. And despite many attempts to reconcile and reconnect, ultimately Yugi didn’t follow her.  
  
The series of broken engagements left a deep impression with all of the friends who knew each other from their dueling days. It became a mantra—don’t date your friends—and the group, for the most part, stayed together because of it.  
  
It shouldn’t have been such a shock, then, for the sixth engagement to fly completely under the radar. Not a soul knew, no gossiping grannies or tv news outlets picked up on it—until the papers were filed for the marriage license, legalizing the union. And, of course, when Yami moved out.  
  
“You’re married!?” cried Yugi and Jounouchi in a chorus of disbelief. “To who!?”  
  
“Me, you dweebs,” called Seto Kaiba as he stepped down the staircase with a stack of boxes. “Now stop gaping and start lifting.”  
  
“How…what…dis doesn’t make any sense!” Jounouchi said. “Is this some kinda joke?”  
  
“It’s as much of a joke as the authenticity of that ring is you gave to Miss Kujaku last fall.”  
  
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Yugi asked. “Why did you wait?”  
  
Yami shared a look with Kaiba, who’s own eyes rolled as he finished descending the stairs. Yami touched his chin and said, “well, we figured somebody had to break the curse. It might as well be us.”  
  
“Also it was becoming inconvenient to spend the night here,” Kaiba said. “Yami’s got a bed made for a six-year-old.”  
  
“You didn’t complain last night, though, did you?”  
  
Kaiba smirked. “I didn’t say I disliked a challenge.”  
  
Jounouchi sputtered and said, “alright, alright, we don’t need the details. Keep it to yourselves.”  
  
“We plan to,” Kaiba said, “just like our engagement. Watch and learn, mutt, and maybe you won’t land on your ass the next time.”  
  
And indeed, the curse was broken, for soon after, successful engagements for those who failed before them followed the happy couple’s footsteps. There was no public declarations of wealth and love, nor the challenging of any fiancé in a duel for the fiancé’s lover, and the streak of failed love soon became a streak of genuine love, kept under careful wraps from the world.  
  



End file.
